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List Price: $18.98 | | Label: Capitol
Salesrank: 546
Released: February 10, 2009 |
| Our Price: $10.98 |
| Used Price: $7.00 |
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| Media: Audio CD |
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It's Not Me, It's You Track Listing:
1. Everyones At It
2. The Fear
3. Not Fair
4. 22
5. I Could Say
6. Back To The Start
7. Never Gonna Happen
8. F**k You
9. Whod Have Known
10. Chinese
11. Him
12. He Wasnt There
Editorial Review:
It's Not Me, It's You, is the follow-up to Lily Allen's critically acclaimed 2007 debut, Alright, Still. The album finds Lily in top form, creating a record Blender's recent "In The Studio" feature described as "part God, part country and all middle finger." Allen wrote and recorded the album's 12 songs with producer Greg Kurstin (the bird and the bee), who worked with her on three songs for Alright, Still - "Everything's Just Wonderful," "Alfie" and "Not Big."
On It's Not Me, It's You, Lily's characteristically sharp observations find expression in a variety of musical styles, with influences ranging from the Jazz Era to country and western to dance music. "Highlights include `Everyone's at It,' a synth-pop song about prescription drugs that features Allen on xylophone; `He Wasn't There,' which matches emotional lyrics about her absent father to a jazz groove; and `Not Fair,' a saucy country song about an inadequate lover," said Rolling Stone.
"We decided to try and make bigger sounding, more ethereal songs, real songs," says Lily, who will be touring the U.S. in the spring. "I wanted to work with one person from start to finish to make it one body of work. I wanted it to feel like it had some sort of integrity. I think I've grown up a bit as a person and I hope it reflects that."
It's Not Me, It's You Reviews:
Bouncy Thrills 
2009-10-31 - Not for everyone. Still very artistic in its quality and intrigue. Makes you sing along with the catchy tunes bouncing with the music.
Uninspired and insipid 
2009-09-27 - First to comment on the actual music. I found almost all of the tracks to be very dull and repetitive. It simply blended into the background of most other music of this genre for me. Track 8, [Expletive] You, I did enjoy in terms of the lyrics and overall beat and would recommend it.
Second to comment on the sonics/mastering. This album, like many other modern albums, suffers from excessive digital hard limiting. Another casualty of the loudness war I'm afraid. It is also excessively EQed and sounds way too bright (way too much treble). The music industry needs to return control of the volume knob to the consumer and stop killing the dynamics in music.
Be careful 
2009-09-25 - If you share Lily's music with your friends, she wants you disconnected from the internet or to have your service crippled. When you buy albums by this person, remember that your money goes to support this greedy corporate attitude while demonstrating you do not care about personal freedoms. Be careful.
Sometimes feels silly, but some good lyrics and catchy tunes
2009-09-18 - In arrangement and production, some of the songs have aspects that are decidedly light-hearted, perhaps parodies of other styles -- but that's deceptive. The lyrics, while they don't uniformly sound like they just flow naturally (for instance, we have "telly" or "TV" depending on what rhyme we need), are often thoughtful and sometimes really shine in ringing true, and they ride on some exceptionally catchy melodies. Also, while her voice has its limits, she seems to know them well and ends up being a great singer for these particular songs. I haven't bored of this album anywhere near as quickly as I usually would for the average album I'd buy -- I don't know if it should be a guilty pleasure or not, but I've found this album well worth the money for how much I've listened to it and enjoyed it -- I just have to be careful not to absent-mindedly cheerily sing out profanities in public places because the tune got stuck in my head! The album bounces along rather well throughout -- after having listened to it a few times to get to know all the songs, there weren't any parts I wished they'd cut, which is rare for me for a single-artist non-compilation album.
Sophomore curse
2009-07-18 - I thought this record was boring. It seems like the melodies and words continue from one song to another. I was on board with "Alright Still"; fantastic debut with different sounds, fierce attitude and a wonderful voice. On "It's Not Me..." the themes still support the Lily Allen no-holds-barred way, but the lyrics seem prozaic and even amateurish at times. The music never broke any barriers with me. I always listen to a new CD twice right after I open it: the first time to embrace the full product; the second time to find all of the hooks that engage you and bring you back to listen over and over.
I shelved it after the second listening and haven't touched it since.
